Write down why you want to lose weight. List all the reasons why those extra pounds are burdensome. That is your motivation. Post them by your phone, in your car, on the bathroom mirror, next to the kitchen sink....

Part 2 is determining whether wanting to reach that goal is worth the effort needed to do so. If you do not think it is worth it, nobody else can help you to get there. If you DO think it is worth the trouble and hard work, nothing can stop you! We can encourage you, we can help you through the temptations and hard spots, but we cannot give you the motivation to do something that you do not want to do.

Part 3 is your plan. How do you plan to lose the weight that you have decided is worth the effort to lose? Will it be dieting? How? Calories? How many? Atkins? Weight Watchers? What kind of exercise and how much are you prepared to do at this point? If you don't have a plan, you will continue doing the same thing you are doing now and that isn't helping you to get to where you want to be..... which brings us to step 4...

Part 4- What is your goal? You can set an ultimate goal, but 50# is a lot to look at. You need to set smaller measurable goals. Not all of them should or have to do with weight. Perhaps it is to move for 10 minutes straight. That movement might be walking, dancing, jogging or marching in place. You might want to get below a certain milestone number (those over 200# tend to strive for ONE-derland). Or look at a 5% weightloss. YOU decide the goals.

Now put these all together and get this plan in motion.

MEASURE YOU SERVINGS! Our minds are sneaky and we vastly underestimate what we are eating. TRACK EVERYTHING THAT GOES IN YOUR MOUTH! If you write it down, it is real. Don't try to remember at the end of the day. DO it immediately after you eat if not before. MOVE! It probably won't be much at first. 15 minutes on the bike was hard for me at first and I had to ice my knee afterward. After several week I tried the elliptical trainer. I couldn't do a minute. Now I can do an hour without any problem. The fact is, you CAN do this! I am proof of it.

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